On May 15, the movie which many regard as the most eagerly
anticipated of the year will be released, and a great deal of our
money will suddenly be swept to Hollywood in a great green
whoosh.
On May 15, the movie which many regard as the most eagerly anticipated of the year will be released, and a great deal of our money will suddenly be swept to Hollywood in a great green whoosh. Considering the financial success of your top movie blockbusters over the past few years, if Bush really wanted to stimulate the economy he’d give away all the money we don’t have to the film industry, as it seems to be creating more jobs than anybody else.
With the boatloads of cash generated by movies like “Titanic,” “Spiderman,” “Lord of the Rings” and “X-Men,” the movie moguls could better afford to invade Iraq than Rumsfeld, and the special effects would be way cooler.
Now comes a guaranteed megahit; of course I’m talking about the second installment of “The Matrix.” The first one has achieved major cult status as one of the more thought-provoking pieces of fiction to come along and disturb us since Reagan swore we weren’t trading arms for hostages.
For those three of you who haven’t seen it, the basic plot of “The Matrix” is that the human race has been duped by our computers into thinking we have lives, whereas in fact we are all working for the machines. OK, now comes the fiction part: the computers have become much smarter than we are, and are able to create an increasingly believable virtual reality in which we all see ourselves as constantly dressed in the hippest, most flattering clothes money can buy, whereas in reality we go almost everywhere in old sweatshirts and worn-out cargo pants.
Sorry; moving right along to the fiction part: we supply the computers with their energy, which they get by sapping all of ours, and in exchange we spend our time nearly motionless, held in thrall by the enticing images the machines put in front of us to keep us from noticing that the world outside the windows we no longer look through is acquiring an unfortunate resemblance to the less-attractive parts of Newark, N.J.
Wait a minute – OK, I got it now; this is the fiction part: what we’re all looking at when we think we’re seeing the real world is an elaborate bit of software which contains a certain amount of flexibility; within it things can occur that you would never see in the actual genuine real world, like people defying gravity and tax cuts defying common sense. But with practice and a willingness to buy into the program because it comforts us, we can learn to accept concepts that we would normally regard as ridiculous.
Hold on, I have it this time; here comes the fiction: the main characters in “The Matrix” dissent from the officially approved version of reality and are trying to wake other people up: however, the centralized authority recognizes that independent thought constitutes a huge threat, and has developed increasingly sophisticated power to watch people, to follow their every move, to infiltrate their ranks and to remove them from society in order to insure that the program runs smoothly.
Bear with me, I really mean it; I’ve nailed the fiction part: after the conclusion of his 111th birthday party, Bilbo Baggins gives his nephew Frodo a strange golden ring …
